UK approves 1GW+ of offshore wind power

By Dakota Torres on 07/06/2012

CC by Michael Pierrot

Today is a big day for renewable energy in the UK. The British government has given the green light to fund two large offshore wind farms off of the Norfolk Coast. The combined investment for the project is around 3 billion pounds(about $4.66 billion USD).

The 580-megawatt Race Banks offshore wind farm will be developed by Centriica, while the 560 megawatt Dudgeon project will be developed by Warwick Energy. UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry made a statement on the announcement of the two projects: “These two projects will not only bring us considerable amounts of clean energy, but significant investment and jobs too.” Longterm, Britain hopes to have nearly 18 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2020. Currently, they only have 2 GW. Hopefully other countries will follow Britain’s example and invest into more renewable energy.